Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 1 Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter Seven: Digital Audio Workstations and Computers.

Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7

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Fundamentals of Audio Fundamentals of Audio ProductionProduction

Chapter Seven:Chapter Seven:

Digital Audio Workstations and Digital Audio Workstations and ComputersComputers


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Digital Audio Workstations

• Two types of DAW systems– Sound recording and playback systems built

around a computer– Proprietary “desktop” designs that are self

contained systems• Descendants of the cassette multi-trackers made

popular in the 1980s• Record directly to hard disk


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“Portastudio” Cassette mult-itracker


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Computer-based DAWs

• May be built around a conventional home computer or “personal computer” (PC)

• Most PCs are based on a standard architecture

• The computer is constructed of various subunits


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Computer-based DAWs


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Computer-based DAWs

• Subunits of the computer are attached to the printed circuit board called the “motherboard”

• The CPU is the computer’s “brain” and executes the calculations required to perform the various functions

• Other subunits are attached to the motherboard as “daughterboards”


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Central Processor


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Daughtercards


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Computer memory

• Short term storage call “random access memory (RAM) retains data only while the computer is operating

• Long term data storage is accomplished using internal hard drives, or external storage devices such as solid state drives (compact flash, secure digital, etc.)


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RAM


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Hard drives

• Hard drives use the same magnetic recording principles used in tape

• Hard drives are constructed by fixing oxide to a polished glass or aluminum platter

• Hard drives contain multiple platters attached to a common spindle

• The tiny recording and playback heads move across the disk surface without touching it


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Hard drives


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Hard drives


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Optical storage

• Compact disks (CD) and digital versatile disks (DVD) offer permanent external storage

• Optical storage has the advantage of being less volatile than magnetic storage

• Optical storage can be very high capacity


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Connecting peripherals

• Peripheral or outboard devices may be connected to the computer

• Various protocols exist to connect peripherals– Parallel and Serial Buses– Universal Serial Bus (USB)– IEEE-1394 (FireWire)– Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)– Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF)


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Connecting peripherals

• Parallel and serial are older systems (legacy) that do not offer high enough throughput for most audio devices

• USB 2.0 provides fast data transfer - suitable for audio data

• IEEE 1394 offers high data transfer capacity and is “hot swapable”

• SCSI and S/PDIF are less common and used only for audio devices


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Peripherals and interfaces

• Some peripherals are designed to allow audio inputs and outputs to be easily connected to the computer using standard audio connectors

• Other interface devices allow the user to have the same “tactile” experience as using a mixing console


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USB audio interface


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User interface


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User interface


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User interface


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Software

• BIOS – basic input-output system– Permanent instructions on a chip– Called “firmware”– Instructions for organizing data flow

• Drivers – small software scripts that allow the computer to communicate with various hardware


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Software

• Operating systems (OS) provide a consistent software platform for application software

• Most OS are single-user multitasking

• OS present a simple (text or graphic) system for the user to operate the software and hardware


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Software

• Audio recording and editing applications are covered in detail in Chapter 8

Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter 7 1 Fundamentals of Audio Production Chapter Seven: Digital Audio Workstations and Computers.

Documents

hard drives slide

audio data ieee

digital audio workstations

ram slide

audio devices usb

hard disk slide

daughtercards slide

hard drives hard drives